


Liaison

by Merfilly



Series: Divided by War, United in Violence [1]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Angst, M/M, Partner Betrayal, Pre-Canon, Pre-War, Rare Pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-02
Updated: 2011-02-02
Packaged: 2017-10-15 07:30:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/158501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starscream made it back from Earth after losing his partner there, and had to learn society. Cue Jazz.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liaison

"Servitor, high-grade and keep it coming," Jazz ordered, tossing his cred-chit down to be verified as he took up far more space at the bar than he normally would have. He didn't want company, not tonight. Not when Tarn was in smoking ruins, and it was mostly his fault that no one had known until too late.

 _"My name's Jazz, liaison from the Council. I'm here to help you adjust, since it's been a while."_

 _"I don't need any help!"_

 _"Suit yourself," the liaison officer said, turning to leave the medical facility where the Seeker had been receiving repairs from an near-impossible interstellar trip without a transport-class protector._

 _"Wait!" Jazz turned back to see the Seeker, his once bright silver body dulled still by his harrowing journey and the stresses of having lost his research partner, standing and reaching out. The tone had been... less rude, almost imploring, but once he had his feet from the repair berth, he drew himself up with arrogance. "I would not decline a companion who knew which facilities were now fashionable," the Seeker said with a sniff._

 _Jazz kind of smiled, taking the time to peer over his visor in faint amusement. "That, Seeker Starscream, I can do with style!"_

Jazz took a long drink of his high-grade, knowing it for a luxury that would soon disappear. He listened to the music playing, feeling it move through him in ways he had never wanted to feel a song touch him. For … so long, they had played at the illusion of companionship for the sake of Starscream relearning all of Cybertron's social circles. Even once the assignment ended, the Seeker had sought his company, over that of his class, for such things as carousing, shopping the best of merchants for upgrades, and general boredom-killers.

 _"I see other Seekers around you... obvious they're trying to get you to notice them," Jazz commented, letting his curiosity out after Starscream had pointedly ignored the one with blue on red coloration._

 _"None of them are worth **my** time," Starscream sneered._

 _"But me, just a grounder, is?"_

 _Starscream cycled an energy field out, wrapping it around the smaller mech as he looked into the visor intently. "I don't waste my time on **just** anything. You keep up with me, and you are different."_

Being different seemed to be the key, Jazz remembered bitterly, taking another sip of the high-grade. Starscream hadn't been able to tolerate his own kind, and for a time, Jazz had truly sympathized, once he knew the reason.

"Too bad it didn't last," he muttered bitterly to himself, falling back into memory.

 _Jazz felt hands shaking him roughly, and looked up into the firmly set faceplates of his lover as he was coming fully online. "What?"_

 _"You have to leave." Starscream had already repaired his paint, the dings, the dents that had come from their rather... enthusiastic 'facing._

 _"Alright, Screamer... just let me get on up out of here then." Jazz tried to reach for him, to caress a vent, but Starscream jerked away abruptly, making Jazz frown. "Star?"_

 _"Don't come back, Jazz. This association ends now."_

 _Jazz stared at him, stunned._

 _"Why?" he asked, before he could even think to censor himself._

 _Starscream looked at him, disgust written in the lines of his arrogant features. "I had an offer. There's no room for a Council lackey where I am going."_

 _Jazz didn't even know what to say back to that, as it felt like a betrayal of everything they had been sharing since Starscream had decided to trust him. All he could do was leave, haunted by the way Starscream had let him get so close, and yet now, looked through him as if he didn't even exist._

How, in the name of all the Primes ever Sparked had he failed to see just what his partner could be? It had been lies all along, had to have been. While Starscream networked with other cities, finding the right move to make, Jazz had been there, introducing him to the very same mechs that held the keys to power, power Starscream wanted.

 _"Liaison Officer Jazz," the Council's speaker began. "We need your special skills and specialized knowledge," he added. "There seems to be something brewing within Vos, and it is known you were once assigned to help its current leader acclimatize to society after a traumatic stress event."_

 _Jazz stiffened, but he nodded. "That'd be Seeker Starscream, and yeah, I did."_

 _"We want you to exert whatever influence you can to see if you can determine what is happening there."_

 _//Not going to have a whole lot of luck there, but you mechs are the boss,// he thought in the safety of his processors. "Understood."_

Jazz drained the last of the current slip of high-grade, then picked his cred-chit back up, deciding he wasn't going to get **that** wasted in public. He shoved his memories away, trying to beat them into submission.

All it took was stepping out, seeing the black, greasy smoke on the horizon toward the direction of Tarn, though, and he knew those memories would never leave him.

 _He had never had reason to see Starscream's armament. One simply didn't wear their guns everywhere they went._

 _"Star..."_

 _"Don't!" Starscream's optics went hard, brilliant with anger. "One chance, Iacon spy... one chance to leave my city and not come back."_

 _"Screamer, it's me! Would I..." His words were cut off by a warning shot of lethal looking levels near his feet._

 _"Leave." The cold, hissing quality of the voice did more than the blast had. Jazz didn't want to be on opposite sides, not this soon after they had been... close._

 _"I won't ever get why... but if this is how it is, then so be it." He left, mission incomplete, having only glimpsed what looked like gladiators readying for the State Games. He'd report the general feeling he'd found in Vos, that they felt Iacon was dangerous and Tarn moreso. Maybe it would be enough._

Only, Jazz thought bitterly, it hadn't. And now there was war at their gates.


End file.
